Best Kids’ Books for Teaching Life Lessons

For kids, reading is a really powerful way to learn about the world around them including how to interact with people and handle their emotions. One of the biggest challenges for kids and causes of temper tantrums is that a child has emotions that they don’t know how to express. It’s priceless finding books that can help your kids understand that spitting and flailing wildly on the grocery store floor is not the way to deal with being sad. Here’s a list of some of the best kids’ books that conquer all sorts of life lessons!

It’s hard. But as the saying goes, “Sharing is caring.” The Giving Tree is the classic and heartbreaking tale of a boy who learns all too late the value of generosity. Mine-O-Saur is about a dinosaur struggling to make friends because he doesn’t like to share. This book resonates more strongly with preschoolers, while The Giving Tree is better suited for older children.

In The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings, the little bears grow jealous of the toys and games their cousins have. But on a stormy night, Mama teaches them to appreciate the loving home they have. Because it’s part of a long series with videos as well, your kids will have a lot more opportunity to connect with the characters.Because it’s a series of books and videos, your kids will have plenty of opportunity to connect with the characters and make the message more powerful.

There are a lot of books about patience, and boy is there a high demand for kids to learn about it. But I chose this book because it’s not subtle. The story is about a little llama that has big demands and doesn’t want to wait for Mama Llama to fulfill them. It’s a scenario every mother and child experience and helps teach kids exactly what their behavior is like and how important it is to wait. If you’re looking for more titles, Meaningful Mama has a pretty great list including this book.

Similar to the story in the DreamWorks film How to Train Your Dragon, George isn’t good at fighting and chooses to make friends with a dragon instead of slaying it. The message about being yourself and using your strengths gives kids the confidence to different.

There are a lot of lessons children have to learn over the years, and a lot of them are hard. No book can take your place, but they can be a great helping hand when you can’t figure of how to explain complex concepts.